ChristinaPassariello

"I didn't say we would be ready or we desire to buy the stake," Mr. Agon said at a press conference.

But he said L'Oreal considers all acquisitions, including that of its own capital.

"We have significant financial resources," he added.

Mr. Agon's comments come in response to remarks earlier in the week from Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Lethmathe, who told a Swiss newspaper that the Swiss group won't extend a shareholder agreement with L'Oreal's founding family, the Bettencourts, and that it is keeping its options open about what to do with its stake in L'Oreal.

A 10-year agreement between Nestle and the Bettencourt family, which owns 30.5%, comes to an end in April 2014. The agreement means one party must give the other first option to buy its shares if it decides to sell its holding in the French company, one of the world's largest cosmetics groups.

The looming deadline has triggered speculation that one side might sell.

The Bettencourt family last week repeated that it had no plans to sell its stake in L'Oreal.

L'Oreal could sell its stake in pharmaceutical company Sanofi to help finance a major acquisition. Mr. Agon reiterated L'Oreal's long-held position that its 9% Sanofi stake is financial, not strategic.

Write to Christina Passariello at christina.passariello@wsj.com and Ruth Bender at ruth.bender@wsj.com

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.